James Iha, who spent a great deal of time recording “X.Y.U.,” felt in the song a literal monster

XYU is kind of a disturbing one though. It’s the monster inside of the band trying to get out!

Guitarist James Iha commented on “X.Y.U.” in TGM Magazine in 1995:

That’s actually the song that we recorded all live-live guitars, live vocals, live bass. We set up all in the same room and it just goes against all the rules of recording no separation at all!

Billy Corgan wrote a lot about this in the album’s liner notes:

“Like many of our songs we had some of the arrangement together, while other bits would vary from moment to moment depending on whether or not we could remember what we were ‘supposed to do’, or what had been changed count-wise from the day before.

The idea of recording this number in an official way seemed to be way too much work for all of us, so with a shrug it was suggested why not record it live, vocals and all, in the studio. No volume would be spared, and we’d just rattle on until it was done. Each take we’d play a little faster and I’d change a phrase here and there until what we were looking for was within reach. Coming off a wicked cold I had trouble keeping my voice fresh, but the garble only added to my sense of desperation that we’d never get that ‘definitive’ take.

Producer Alan Moulder would later say that recording this final take was the single most exciting moment he’d ever had in a studio, and there was a sense as it went down that something important was indeed happening, albeit with a far greater clarity than had been caught in any previous version. I remember thinking in my mind and psychically projecting out to the band, “Please don’t mess up!”

Archeological evidence does suggest that a portion of this version was stolen from an earlier take for reasons I cannot recall. The end result is haunting and singular, a lasting effect which could never have been captured through conventional means.